The Scientist
by Yogscastrules
Summary: Zoey is ripped in two when she has to make the hardest decision of her life: Magic or Science FINISHED
1. Chapter 1

**The Scientist**

I've never told anyone about this before and I hope I'll never have to talk about this again. You would have thought that I told Rythian about this because we're so close. But trust me if I did, he'll probably kill me.

I never knew I could run so fast when I ran back from my secret base. The trees blurred around me as I dodged them. Being in the forest alone in the dark was nothing I'd ever done before. But I'd have to get used to it. I franticly looked around me, making sure that no-one was there. But still, the snapping of twigs filled my ears…

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a strange purple glow. I skidded to a halt and glanced over my shoulder to realise what the purple glow was. I soon wished I hadn't done that… it was an Enderman's eyes! And I was too late. What would Rythian think if I came back with an Enderman! I knew running away wouldn't get away from him but what else could I do?

I tried weaving round trees and diving behind rocks but it was no good, the Enderman kept on teleporting in front of me. I ran into a nearby cave and paused to catch my breath. The Enderman appeared at the mouth of the cave and I realised that I was trapped. It came closer and closer to me, teasing me as I faced death. I braced myself for the nightmare to come. Suddenly an axe from no-where flew through the air and hit the Enderman causing it to fall over and die instantly. Where did the axe come from? A shadowy figure emerged from behind a tree. I walked over to it and realised who it was. "Simon?!" I called over.

"Zoey! I noticed that you were in trouble over there and figured that I'd give a helping hand." Simon said.

"Wow, thanks! What are you doing in this forest?" I said.

"I needed to go to Duncan's castle to fetch some materials for the Jaffa Factory. It's on the other side of this forest." Said Simon, who sounded very out of breath. He bent down to get his axe back. "What about you?"

"Just out for a walk"

"In the middle of the night?" He looked puzzled. "Anyway… I'll see you around then, don't forget to pop round the Jaffa Café"

That was close. No one's allowed to find out where I was. Simon carried on through the woods leaving me to carry on back home. If it wasn't for Simon I would have been toast! It must be my lucky day. After walking for a few minutes I stumbled across the farm. Behind it lay the silhouette of Blackrock Stronghold.

I tiptoed to the main door of the castle and slowly opened the door. I hoped that Rythian was fast asleep because the door creaked a little bit. I made my way up the marble staircase and entered my bedroom. My room looked just how I left it. The blue king-sized bed looked even more comfy the longer I stood there. I couldn't stand it any longer and jumped into the bed for a well-earned sleep.

Morning soon came and I could hear Rythian downstairs making breakfast. I designed the Kitchen as I did with every room in Blackrock Stronghold. But it was hard to design a fridge that contained no science. Now we have a fridge that doesn't work but that doesn't matter because you don't need a fridge in minecraft.

The smell of bacon filled the room. I know that Rythian was trying to annoy me because he knows perfectly well that I'm a vegetarian. I decided to go downstairs and see what he wanted. When I got downstairs I saw Rythian standing by the door to the kitchen, arms crossed.

"Good morning Rythian" I said in a cheery voice.

"Where were you last night?!"

***To Be Continued***


	2. Chapter 2

**The Scientist Part 2**

"What do you mean?" I said in a sweet voice

"There's MUD on your boots and I saw you!" Rythian replied. Now I was in trouble.

"Does it matter?"

"Zoey! Of cause it matters, I was worried about you… You were gone for ages."

"Well you always go to the Crooked Caber without telling me!"

There was a knock at the door, just at the right time. We both went and found Nilesy there. What did he want this time? Last time he came was when he installed our pool. It cost 10 diamonds and it is rubbish. No offence to Nilesy…

"Hi there Rythian and Zoey! Want any Pools?" He said laughing. He could tell by our faces that we weren't impressed, "No seriously, I'm holding a party this evening at the Captive Creeper and I wondered if you wanted to come along…"

"Yes! We'd love to" I blurted out

"Cool. You need to come in some sort of disguise; it's to celebrate the finale of 'Diamonds in the Rough'. I'll see you later then!" Nilesy said happily and walked off.

"What! Zoey we shouldn't go! Sjin plays Diamonds in the Rough with Nilesy. Anyone else could be at the party." Rythian said. He gulped "Including the Scientist."

I tried to reassure him "Look we can't back out now and in our disguises no one will be able to tell who we are!"

"Ok then… But we must only go for a few minutes, in our new red matter and dark matter armour." Rythian replied.

So it was sorted. Rythian took the red matter armour and I took the dark matter armour. When it started to get dark we headed off to the Captive Creeper. Teep would have come with us but he has some bad memories back there. As we got nearer to the Captive Creeper we could hear music and people talking. The place was packed, Minty must be rich from all the beers everyone had in their hands.

I looked around for Simon, to thank him for what he did earlier but I suddenly got lost in the crowd of people. I found myself looking around trying to spot Rythian somewhere but it was no good. I then tripped over someone's foot and face planted the floor. A hand lifted me to my feet and dusted me down. "Thank you. Who are you?" I asked

"Oh, that doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're OK." The voice said. "Zoey, I don't think you're safe here. Even with that armour on. That Creeper over there has been held captive for so long that it's bound to explode soon."

"Oh." How did he know my name?

"But don't worry; I'll protect you better than Rythian. I am a scientist… I know that Rythian doesn't get along with me very well, but if you come over to my castle I could show you some cool experiments." He said

"That sounds fun. I've never done science before-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Rythian shouted at the scientist. We both span round quickly "Get away from Zoey!" The music suddenly stopped and everyone's attention focused on us

"I've been invited to this party like any other person! Why can't you accept that science is better than magic?" The Scientist said

"Zoey, do you know who this is? This is the horror I've been telling you about! This is DUNCAN." Rythian charged at Duncan pinning him to the wall. Duncan struggled to escape from Rythian's tight grip. "Just go home Zoey" He said looking over his shoulder to me "let me clean up this mess."

"You treat me and Zoey like dirt! Let me go." Said Duncan trying to push Rythian away.

"Why you…" Rythian glared at Duncan. I then realised that Rythian could kill Duncan if he really wanted to and it could happen now.

***To Be Continued***


	3. Chapter 3

**The Scientist Part 3**

"It's for the best Zoey" Duncan called out from behind Rythian's arm "Go,"

I turned and ran as fast as I could through the trees, trying to hold back the tears in my eyes. Rythian can be such a monster. He's trying to 'protect' me from science. Science can't be that bad because Duncan's quite a nice guy. I could still hear them shouting even though I was quite far away. I stopped running and turned around. Didn't Simon say that he was coming back from Duncan's castle on the day he saved me? And didn't Duncan invite me over? I decided to head in the direction of his castle. A cry of agonising pain pierced my ears and I knew that something had happened at the Captive Creeper.

My walk turned into a sprint… only my dark matter armour was weighing me down. I replaced it with my bling armour. I soon arrived at Duncan's castle. I never thought that it would look like this. It was such a beauty and must have taken ages to build. A warping sound came from the castle and I knew that I wasn't alone. I needed to get back to Blackrock Stronghold before Rythian found out that I was here.

When I arrived back the place was empty, apart from Teep. I entered the lounge and looked at the chalk board. Someone had changed the happy face to a sad face.

"Hi." I jumped "Are you ok?" Rythian asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," I turned around to see a scar across Rythian's face "What happened to you?!" Rythian turned and left the room. A few steps later he came back with a scarf covering his mouth. It looked scary but at least it covered the scar.

"All I can say is Duncan. I saw him talking to you earlier, did he hurt you?" He said from behind the scarf.

"Um, no. Did you hurt him at all?"

"Look this is what happened, when you left Sjin came up behind me and punched me in the back. But that's Sjin so his punches don't hurt. I turned around to show Sjin _my_ fist and accidently lost hold of Duncan. Duncan got out his sword and slashed my face. I tried to get him back with my Katar but he chickened out and teleported away."

"Oh you poor thing!" I said and ran over to him to give him a hug. Maybe Rythian isn't the monster, maybe Duncan and this so called Sjin is. I reached over to the scarf "Let me take a look at that scar-"

"NO. The scarf stays up now." Rythian said pushing my hand back down.

"But-"

"I said, NO" I saw Rythian leave and head in the direction of the Crooked Caber. 'This is my chance' I thought. Rythian wouldn't be back for ages if he was going to get something to drink.

I checked that the coast was clear and ran to Duncan's castle. I searched the castle for the entrance until I came across the towering doors. Duncan sure did like his security but if Rythian was around he would need it. I called out "hello?"

"_Hi! Welcome to my castle. Let me just open the doors…" _Said Duncan, on the communicator next to the doors. The doors opened with a clank and the scent of science filled my nose. There was no doubt that this was a Scientists home. I could tell that he thought very strongly about science. The only _magic_ I had was a void ring which Rythian gave me but I had no idea how it worked. "So, what do you think?" Said Duncan as he ran over to me.

"I think that what you did to Rythian was horrible… but the castle is nice." I answered

"What I did to Rythian was out of self-defence! Did you know that a katar can kill you with only one swipe?"

"Yes, I helped him make it."

"Well anyway, let's not start the third tekkit war. Do you want a tour?"

"Well, as I said I've never done any science before and I was wondering-"

"Do you want to learn some basic science?" Duncan said a little bit too eagerly.

"Yes please!"

"Let's start with… a force field!" Duncan said. He scrunched up his nose as he tried to remember how to make one. The he suddenly walked off and disappeared into an underground lab. I didn't know what to do and just followed him. While making it he kept on saying weird science words like an electrolyzer and an electrolyzed water cell. Duncan is really good scientist but he's not very good at the teaching bit.

After building it he said "Where should we put it?"

I thought for a long time and eventually decided "I'm going to show you something that I've never shown anyone before… my secret base"


	4. Chapter 4

**The Scientist Part 4**

I made this base so that I could get away from Rythian and practise performing magic on my own because Rythian isn't a very good teacher and he gets so mad with me when I get the magic wrong. But experimenting science had never come to my mind and my base was perfect for it. With the force field no one would be able to disturb me while I worked. My base looked like a giant tree but it was hollow inside.

On the way down to it Duncan asked me "Have you got a code name for your secret base?"

"No, that's a good idea! What about the mutated mushroom? Because we're doing science and sometimes that can go terribly wrong."

"…Ok then… whatever, it's your base so you can call it whatever you like." By the time we finally got there Duncan was out of breath and clutching a stitch. I could tell that he wasn't used to walking for long distances.

"This is it, this is the mutated mushroom!" I announced. Duncan kept on looking around in circles obviously not knowing where the base was. "It's over there." I said pointing next to him.

"Wow that was difficult to spot!"

"That's why it's called a secret base." I said acting like he was dumb. "Want to go inside?"

"Yes. But how do you get inside?"

I tapped my nose to show that it was a secret and when he wasn't looking I pulled a lever on a nearby tree. This was the only science I'd ever done and I couldn't wait to do more. The noise of the door scared Duncan making him dive behind a tree. Realising what the noise actually was he came out from behind the tree. "OOO… Looks like you've been busy making this piston door."

I pushed him inside and pulled another lever to close the door. When I turned around I could see that Duncan was already onto it and was placing the force field core in the centre of the tree. When he finally finished sorting the wiring his blonde hair had turned brown with all the dirt.

It was kind of him to install this for me but I didn't get to do any Science! I'm sure next time I'll get a chance.

"Thank you so much."

"It was nothing" Duncan said with a smile "We could do some science experiments next time we're here."

"Yeah! Next time Rythian's out you should come over for a homemade mushroom stew, you deserve it."

"Well I'll see you next time." Duncan said heading towards the exit. "This could be real fun." I knew that I should go soon as well or Rythian would come back and notice that I'm not there again. We both left the Mutated Mushroom and went our separate ways. When I nearly got back I realised that Duncan hadn't told me how to activate the force field. Oh well.

It started to get light again as I entered the door. I searched all the rooms just to make sure that Rythian was back but strangely enough he wasn't back. All I found was Teep in the magic room mass producing arrows.

"Teep have you seen Rythian come back at all?" I asked him. Teep shook his head. I don't even know why he was mass producing arrows because we'd only just given him an enchanted bow with infinity I. When it got closer to noon I started to worry. What if Rythian hadn't gone to the Crooked Caber and instead met up with Sjin to kill him? Or killed Duncan?! I couldn't take it any longer and decided to go on my first visit to the Crooked Caber. I think that Ravs owns the bar which is lucky because he's not on Rythian's kill list.

I headed into the direction of where Rythian went until I reached the sea. I wondered where the bar was because I couldn't see it anywhere. I tried walking up and down the beach to try and spot it somewhere but I had to stop because the burning sun was directly over me making me too hot to go on. I collapsed onto the sand and tried to cool down. But out in the distance in the middle of the ocean was a faint object. If the Crooked Caber was there, that was the most stupid place to put it. I got up and looked around for some kind of bridge but there was none. I saw Teep running along the beach towards me.

"Hi Teep. Do you want to come as well?" I asked. He nodded really quickly.

"I guess that's a definite yes then." He nodded really quickly again.

"But there's one problem Teep I don't know how we're going to get over there." I said while gesturing to the objects in the sea. Teep ran up to the water and placed a boat down.

"Well done Teep! Have you got a second one?" As I said that he got into the boat and started heading towards the objects.

"I guess that's a no then…" I mumbled to myself. I only had one choice now. I needed to swim over there. Great. As I started walking into the shallow water, I noticed how cold it was. Lucky me. It was agonising having to swim that far for so long in freezing water. I didn't even know if Rythian would be there. But when I got closer I started to make out an island and a building on it. The sign on the building said CC. Maybe for Crooked Caber. Hopefully for Crooked Caber.

***To Be Continued***


	5. Chapter 5

**The Scientist Part 5**

When I finally pulled myself up onto the dock I was shivering and soaking through. Teep had left his boat out on the water and there was no one eating or drinking on the outside benches. I walked up to the doors and gave them a big push open. It was quite dark inside because the only light source was candles.

"Hey _another _customer! This is the busiest day of my life!" Ravs shouted out. I looked around and the place was near deserted. "Ah Man." Ravs said punching a table "I nearly won that game! Can we start again?" I walked closer to the table that Ravs and Teep were at and saw that they were just pushing a lever back and forth. What sort of game is that?!

"Wait Teep. Do **you** want to play?" It took me a few minutes to register that he was talking to me.

"Oh, me? N-no thanks." I mumbled. Somehow pushing a lever isn't my idea of fun and at the moment I was on a mission.

"Zoey is that you?" Rythian said.

"Rythian?!" I looked around until I saw him. He was staggering towards me. "Are you OK? You were gone for ages and I thought something terrible had happened to you." I ran up to him and kept him balanced. He flinched when he felt how cold my hands were.

"I'm sorry Zoey but now is not the best of times because I may have drank one too many of Ravs' home made brews and I've gone partly blind!" Rythian said sounding worried.

"What! How many fingers am I holding up?" I asked

"This is minecraft, we don't have any fingers! Everything's dark and blurry. Where are you?"

"I'm right in front of you, how can you not see me? Wait, can I just ask what Ravs and Teep are playing?!"

Rythian was silent for a moment "Is it the game with the lever?"

"Yes it is and I'm going to win!" Ravs shouted, taking the game a little bit too seriously.

"That's the lever game. They made it up. I don't even think that there's a proper scoring system." Rythian explained. "But anyway where were we… oh yes I'M BLIND!"

Ravs picked up the lever and threw it on the floor, obviously he lost. He came over to us and whispered: "I'd rather you didn't tell the whole world the side effects, it could put people off coming here."

"No one comes here anyway! It's just me, Ryth and Teep." I pointed out.

"Shut up! Don't worry it wears off after a while _if you're lucky_." With that said he walked back behind the bar.

"Rythian I think that we should get back. Please." I asked

"I don't think I'll be able to find the way back being blind and all." He said.

"Hey guys," It was Ravs again "I have a special brew downstairs that can help with the blindness. Follow me." I guided Rythian behind the bar and down the restricted stairs which lead to the 'secret ingredient'. There was a box in the room and Ravs opened it up and took the cup out. He passed it to Rythian, who drank it.

"That's better. I can see again! Thank you Ravs your brews are amazin-"He finished mid-sentence when he saw a squid in the secret ingredients pool. "Maybe we should go home now." That was fine with me but maybe not Ravs.

"No you can't go! You're my only customers!" He cried as we dived into the water. Teep then jumped into his boat and followed us back to the Castle. In the castle I decided to look at the chalk board. The sad face had been rubbed off and I message had taken its place. It said _'I'm going to get you'_.

***To Be Continued***


	6. Chapter 6

**The Scientist part 6**

I could hear that Rythian was about to come in so I quickly rubbed the message out and drew a mushroom. "What's that?" He asked.

"Can't you tell! It's a mushroom." I said gazing at my art work. Rythian was never keen on the chalk board idea; so far I've been the only one using it, apart from that strange person who keeps on writing weird stuff.

"Fine. I'm just going to get to work on a Ring of Arcana."

After a few days of experimenting science in the Mutated Mushroom it was finally full and I understood science perfectly. Duncan had said that I'd got a gift for working with computers but really I'd just found it more fun. Rythian had nearly finished building the Ring of Arcana. It sounded very complicated.

While Rythian was doing his magic I decided to work on my magic with the void ring in my room. Rythian made the void ring especially for me and I think that he was expecting me to use it. I searched around my room realising that I'd miss placed it somewhere. I started to panic and search in places that I hadn't been in for ages. I looked behind my dressing screen "Aaaaaahhhh!" Whoops. Maybe I shouldn't have screamed because it was only Duncan. But what was Duncan doing in Blackrock Stronghold. And what was Duncan doing in my bedroom!

"Ssshhh," He whispered "Don't let everyone know where I am. I'm so sorry but experimenting science with you in the past few day was really fun and made me really get to know-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY CASTLE!?" Rythian shouted as he spotted Duncan. He grabbed Duncan the hair and threw him across the room. Rythian's eyes glowed purple. Duncan got out his plasma gun and pointed it at him. Rythian teleported around the room laughing, making Duncan dizzy.

I still stood there watching as a war was about to happen. Duncan fired the plasma gun but missed Rythian instead it made a hole in the wall. Rythian teleported right in fount of Duncan and ignited the floor around him with purple flames. Duncan jumped back and accidentally fell off the side of the building out of the hole he made earlier.

Rythian got his Ring of Arcana out and threw fire balls hurtling at Duncan. I could tell from Duncan's face that he'd had enough. He aimed again and just as he was about to fire a zombie knocked him off course, releasing a plasma ball straight at me. The last thing I saw was purple sparks.

***To Be Continued?* (sorry this one was so short)**


	7. Chapter 7

**The Scientist part 7**

I opened my eyes "W-what just h-happened?" I croaked as I sat up in my bed. Rythian was sat in a chair next to me looking worried. "How long have I been like this?"

"Zoey, you're alright! I thought that you'd never wake up. You've been out for weeks." He stood up and gave me a hug. The hole in my wall had been blocked up and dirty plates were dotted around the chair Rythian was sat on. "Just to let you know, I know all about the mutated mushroom and that it's filled with science." _Science…_ The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was such a dark word that brought back too many bad memories.

"Where's that… guy who did this to me?" I couldn't bear to say his name. That name should belong in the nether.

"What Duncan?" My eyes turned as red as my hair was and I jumped out of my bed, slamming my boots down causing a dent in the floor. "Stop. You need to stay in bed until you're completely better! There's no point in trying to capture Duncan now because Sipsco have got him held captive in their interview chamber." That made me feel a little bit better but I still wanted to get my hands onto him. "Also you can't go out like that" He said pointing to my face.

"What's wrong with my face?" I said rushing to a mirror. In it I saw a girl covered in deadly burns and two scars on her right cheek. That plasma gun must've been powerful. "My face will be fine." I mumbled "How did that… _guy_ get captured by Sipsco."

"You're enjoying this aren't you: Story time with Rythian! Anyway when you got hit Duncan backed up slowly, accidently falling into the marsh. By then everyone on the server had appeared. They saw you lying on the floor and handcuffed Duncan. We thought that you'd want to take care of him later. Although, I really wanted to show him the wrath of Rythian."

"Let's go and visit Sipsco then." I said, starting to walk in its direction. On the way Rythian gave me his Ring of Arcana and explained to me how to use it, just in case Duncan tried to hurt me again. "But what about you! You'll be unarmed."

"Don't worry about me, I have my Katar." Rythian said. As we got closer I could see the blinding symbol of the Sipsco logo.

"Please don't fight with Sjin. I know you don't like him much but see what fighting has done so far." I say pointing to myself. Sure I'm lucky to be alive but every step releases pain.

"There you are!" It was Sips calling from the pool "Nice of you to join us at long last. Duncan's been dying to see you."

"Well I've been dying. And that's not to see Duncan." I shivered as I said the devil's name for the first time in ages. Now I know what it feels like to be Rythian, with enemies causing nightmares and ruining your life. Sjin walked up to me, staring at my burns now that he was up close. "Do you mind?" I said to him.

"Oh sorry. Duncan's this way." He said as he walked over to the 'interview chamber'. A very depressed Duncan was sat there facing away from us. "Duncan. There's someone here to see you." Oddly Duncan didn't move at all. "Duncan?" Sjin banged on the window. Duncan fell over revealing that he was in fact a dummy.

"What! Where is he?" Rythian screamed. Sjin turned bright pink, embarrassed that Duncan escaped without anyone noticing. Sips ran over because of all the commotion, still dripping wet from the pool. But while they were all arguing I noticed a note attached to the dummy. I read it through the window, it said

'To Zoey, I'm sorry about hurting you. I didn't mean to hurt you at all. I'm afraid that Rythian will never forgive me and therefor I live in constant dread. I've decided to run away and get away from this place to forget about all that happened here but if word gets around that you've died, I'll come back and give myself up to Rythian and receive certain death. I'm so sorry.' A tear ran down my cheek and I ran through all the angry people, into my special mushroom cave where I belong. I never knew that I'd miss Duncan so much. But you know what they say 'Your real friends are your enemies.'

***The End.* **For now…


End file.
